Michael Owen underwent further surgery yesterday evening on the fractured metatarsal sustained at Tottenham on December 31 and, although Newcastle United and the player were quick to offer reassurances about its minor nature, he may not play for another month. That would have implications for England because Owen may play only three Premiership games before Sven-Goran Eriksson names his World Cup squad on May 8.

Newcastle host West Bromwich Albion on Saturday April 22, five days after an away game at Sunderland which may not be a fixture to reintroduce him, but they have only two matches after that, at Birmingham City and home to Chelsea.

Although it will be 33 days between the England squad for Germany being announced and their opening Group B game against Paraguay in Frankfurt - with friendlies against Hungary and Jamaica before that - it is clearly not ideal preparation and there is an echo of David Beckham prior to the last World Cup.

Owen was in Manchester at 6pm to have the screw that was inserted in the little toe of his right foot tightened. The decision on further surgery followed complaints of soreness this week from Owen which prompted a scan on Thursday.

"The specialists have said that everything is healing fine," he said via a statement on Newcastle's website last night. "But to speed the process they need to tighten the screw they inserted at the time of my operation in January. It is a simple process and should ensure that I am back playing for Newcastle before the end of the season."

A return date of April 8 had been suggested - Newcastle are at Middlesbrough that day - and that would be 14 weeks after the injury occurred in a collision with Paul Robinson. That is within the recovery time frame originally mentioned.

England fans' concern about Owen, however, pales beside Newcastle supporters' dismay. Nearly 20,000 turned out to see him sign last August and, if West Bromwich is his return date, then he will have played only 13 Newcastle games since his £16.5m transfer from Real Madrid. There has, moreover, been constant speculation that he will leave Newcastle this summer but the 26-year-old and his advisers, always careful of his image, may feel a moral obligation to stay at the club and repay those fans.